


Twin Flames

by 3tinkgemini



Category: The Originals (TV), The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Ex's to Lovers, F/M, Friends to Lovers, New spin on soulmates, but not standard soulmates, twin flames
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-29
Updated: 2018-10-29
Packaged: 2019-08-09 07:29:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,284
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16445465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/3tinkgemini/pseuds/3tinkgemini
Summary: Two years into college, after much debate over the insane amount of phone calls and text messages with her former resident stalker, Caroline took a leap of faith. She left Mystic Falls and all its drama behind, moved to New Orleans, transferred to Tulane, and began an honest to God relationship with none other than Klaus Mikaelson.But like most real-life love stories posing as a fairy-tale, reality came crashing down and sent them both fleeing a long long time ago and far far away from each other…until…





	Twin Flames

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ArrenEmris](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArrenEmris/gifts).



> Hello there Sweet Giftee! I hope you enjoy your gift. I went with the Ex's to Lovers genre you suggested. Not too much angst, just a little and more fighting than actual angst. There is a small amount of smut but not smut...more foreplay without actually being foreplay. So this story is SFW

 

 “Caroline! I’m so glad you made it!” The raven haired vampire, Stella, who was dangerously close to spilling out of her deep violet dress, smiled widely in greeting.

 

Caroline’s answering smile shined as brightly as the vintage diamond bracelet wrapped around her wrist that she had dug out of her jewelry box only hours before on a whim. Giggling lightly as she carefully embraced her friend, “I’m just happy to be at a party I _wasn’t_ in charge of organizing for a change.”

 

“Business is going well then I take it?” Her friend asked as she walked them through the crowd of guests.

 

“Outside of my newest client waiting until after I traveled all the way to Sweden to cancel on me? Really good, a little too well actually.” Caroline grumbled, quickly recovering when she saw the odd look her friend shot her way, “Not that I mind, and all the references that you and your family have given me were a fantastic stepping stone.”

 

“Then why do you seem so upset about it?” Stella’s face showed her genuine confusion and concern.

 

Grimacing, she plucked a champagne flute off a tray that a slightly dazed waiter carried by. “Is it really that obvious?”

 

“To anyone else, probably not. But to me? Yes. I’ve known you for what, nearly fifty years now?” Stella shot her a sideways grin and a wink, “I’d like to believe that we’ve grown to know each other well since our first meeting. You the lonely, heartbroken young vampire and me the eternally bratty socialite. I can tell when something is eating at you.”

 

“Honestly?” She sighed, Caroline had learned year ago after becoming friends with the older vampire, that Stella had this rare affinity for truly understanding those she cared for emotions. As well as the biggest flare for dramatics she had ever seen. If she didn’t give Stella some kind of explanation, even if she had no clue what the problem was herself, the woman would be after her nonstop until the entire guest list would be whispering all sorts of shady rumors of what the mysterious Caroline was up to.

 

And that was definitely not something Caroline wanted to deal with tonight. She was on edge enough without having to fend off all the repeated questions and speculations people liked to make of her.

 

So she didn’t like or want to talk about her past, so what! It’s not like half of them would believe her anyways. Doppelgängers, Bennett witches, oldest creatures to every walk the earth, a million and ten curses? No. They wouldn’t believe her. That a simple small town baby vampire had seen all that and lived to tell the tales.

 

Besides, she left all that behind when she walked away from Mystic Falls and then again when she left…nope. She wasn’t going there. Not today.

 

“I’m not really sure. Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy my event planning business has taken off the way it has but, I don’t know, now that it’s such a well oiled machine that it could basically run without me I’ve been feeling…”

 

“Feeling what Care?” Stella pressed gently, not missing how lost and ready to break her dear friend was.

 

“Itchy? Frustrated? Like I’m ready to burst out of my skin.” Caroline huffed as she drained her glass before swiping another.

 

Stella’s tinkling laughter drew a few envious eyes in her direction before she calmed and whispered through softer giggles, “Oh honey! It sounds like you need to get laid.”

 

Smothering her scoff with her flute, “It’s not that.” Caroline rolled her eyes, “Okay fine, maybe it is _that_ just a little,  but it’s something _more._ Its like my whole world is trembling, about to burst at the seams. Almost like I’m waiting for something. Some life changing…” Her forehead wrinkled as she tried in vane to find what she was trying to say, “…thing to walk into my life and change everything I know.”

 

Stella hummed in contemplation, “Is this _thing_  a bad thing? Do you have some witchy heritage in your bloodline that might be giving you some sort of residual premonition-like tendencies?”

 

“No, at least not that I know of. But even then after I was turned those would have been long gone.” Caroline exhaled heavily, “No this is something different. Something I haven’t felt in a really long time. Not since…” She shut her mind off from the path it was trying to force her to take, “not for a very long time.”

 

Stella wanted nothing more than to continue pressing, it amazed even herself that for some strange reason she didn’t. Almost as if some unseen and never known part of her mind was stopping her from acting out on her most natural instincts.

 

Her eyes caught sight of a stunning blonde in a green dress making her way into the room from over Caroline’s shoulder and all thoughts of her dear friend’s turmoil fluttered completely from her mind.

 

If Caroline’s shock at the blonde’s unexpected appearance hadn’t caught her so off guard she might have began questioning her friend’s downright odd behavior. It was completely out of character for her to just let something like this go. It was quiet _compelling._

 

Stella nearly squealed as she latched into Caroline’s arm, leaning in to rapidly whisper in excitement, “I can’t believe she came! A Mikaelson, an actual Original here at my party! I had only heard stories of them myself. That is, until a few days ago when I happened upon the sister and the youngest brother, Kol, at a club. I’ve yet to meet the other two brothers but I do hope she passed along the invitation. I’m just dying to see if the rumors are true and they are as handsome as people have  claimed.”

 

Caroline felt her stomach drop all the way down to her scarlet painted toes. The flashes of blonde hair and the green dress were weaving through the people and getting close by the second.  

 

“Sorry, I um, think I see a potential client over there. I’ll be right back.” She didn’t wait for a reply to her hastily made excuse, quickly dodging around other guests toward the restroom in hopes to calm the panic rushing through her veins.

 

Placing a shaky hand to her chest, feeling it pump wildly as her breath raced in a way it hadn’t done in decades. Just seconds before she could make it to the door, a hand brushed her bared shoulder causing her to jump with a high-pitched shriek as she spun on her heels.

 

“Scurrying away and hiding has a way of doing that to a person.” The tall blonde grinned like a cat, “Hello Caroline.”

 

“Rebekah.” Caroline smoothly greeted with a nod, her eyes scanning the guests milling around just outside of the hall as if desperately hoping to find, or more accurately, _not_ find someone, “Is he…I mean…are you here with…Did you come alone?”

 

“I do find myself without someone to introduce me around properly at the moment,” Rebekah linked her arm with Caroline’s purposeful feigning ignorance at the real inquiry, “So why don’t you show me around for a bit.”

 

Caroline knew all too well how the Mikaelson’s enjoyed playing games and toying with words as a means to answer a question without actually giving an answer. Almost as well as she knew that no matter how much she wanted to get away, the lightly pressing yet friendly arm linked through hers would quickly turn to an iron tight hold the moment she made a single move to leave.

 

“Caroline! I see you’ve met Rebekah.” Stella beamed as the two blondes stopped in front of her.

 

“Oh Caroline and I go way back, don’t we?” Rebekah laughed sweetly, ignoring Caroline’s angry glare.

 

“You cheeky minx! You let me rave on and on, and all the while you knew the Mikaelson’s and you never told me?” Stella gasped in mock outrage. Though she tried to hide it, hurt shimmered lightly in her eyes at the thought that her friend had kept such a huge secret.

 

Whatever Caroline’s carefully crafted excuse would have been, it was lost to her as she felt the familiar tingling race up and down her spine. She held her breath in hopes she was wrong, but knowing full well what would greet her as she slowly turned to look over her shoulder.

 

She wasn’t wrong.

 

The face she hadn’t laid eyes upon in fifty years.

 

The face that was currently frozen in shock,  as he stood within the entryway beside Elijah.

 

_Klaus._

 

A ripple of pain flashed within his eyes before anger took over and set in. Caroline watched from across the room as he turned to leave, discretely fighting against Elijah’s hold the entire time. Their hushed voices, kept so low even Caroline had to strain to hear, gave only a handful of words and small bits of their heatedly hissing conversation away.

 

_“Do not cause a scene.”_

_“I’ll show you a scene brother…assured me she was out of the country…lied to…betrayed…own family!”_

“Oh pish-posh Nik.” Rebekah scoffed quietly, “It’s high time the two of you stopped your inane running and get over yourselves.”

 

Klaus and Caroline’s eyes connected, both glancing away quickly. Each lost in their own thoughts of the past and how to get away without being dragged right back by the obviously meddling duo.

 

Elijah took advantage of his brother’s preoccupation, for that was the only reason Caroline could think of as why Klaus was allowing him to steer them both towards where she stood.

 

All the feelings of restlessness and confusion she had been feeling over the past few weeks amplified with every step that brought him closer to her. Caroline’s mind clicked, keenly piecing together how this impromptu meeting had transpired. Deciding to shove down and ignore how she suddenly realized the cause and reason for her strange emotions lately, she focused instead on her anger at having this situation forced on her.

 

“You did this didn’t you?” Caroline hissed accusingly, her eyes sparking like tiny blue flames, “You orchestrated this entire event!”

 

“Careful Caroline, you wouldn’t want to draw attention.” Rebekah chastised with a smug press of her lips.

 

“The hell with the attention! You can’t fool me into to believing that you weren’t behind it all. The very first out of the country client I get just happens to cancel, without ever meeting with me, after I had been in Sweden for a week. Which just happens to be the time frame you get your brother to show up to the city where I live, for a party that a friend of mine is throwing. My friend that you just _happened_ to stumble across at a club.”

 

Caroline ended with a dramatic huff, crossing her arms tightly to her chest as she tapped her foot.

 

Rebekah shrugged nonplussed, “Your point?”

 

“My point? _My point_?” Her mouth fell open in shock, her arms falling limply to her sides before waving up in the air, “My point is I want to know what the hell _your_ point was?!”

 

“Now you’ve done it,” Rebekah snickered as she noticed a few partygoers beginning to pay attention to their little group, “Your incessant screeching has drawn in the crowd. If you must know we,” Her eyes snapped towards her right, “stop your growling Nik, yes _we_ have all had enough of this. Of the sulking and the brooding. Fifty years! Fifty long and tiresome years of dealing with this nonsense from the two of you. You wanting to know about her after I come home from a visit but being too cowardly to ask. And you,” She turned back towards Caroline with an accusing finger, “always biting your lip raw and twirling your hair so hard you nearly go bald with the strands you pull out to try and stop from asking about him!”

 

Elijah took a step forward, adjusting his cuffs as he diplomatically tried to defuse the situation.

 

“What Rebekah is trying to say is that we care deeply for you both, as we know you do about each other as well. We feel it’s high time you both sort this out, though I had hoped it would be in a less dramatic fashion and without the added audience,” Elijah eyed Rebekah with exasperation, “But what’s done is done.”

 

“You know what,” Caroline spoke quickly as Klaus opened his mouth, not wanting to hear whatever threats and profanities that were about to leave his lips. Or an even worse thought, his possible agreement with Elijah, “To hell with the audience and to hell with all of you.” She spat viciously before turning on her heels and stormed away.

 

She was beyond grateful that no one attempted to stop her and this time she made it into the restroom without any interference. But she quickly realized her blunder as she locked the door to the room.

 

There was no way out.

 

She should have made a path straight for the door leading out of the building but of course tonight would be the night that she went right back to being a creature of habit.

 

What the hell was it about girls and parties anyways? Girls getting upset and then making a run for it to hide in the nearest restroom.

 

Placing her hands on the sink she let her head fall forward with a groan. Unlike her long ago teenage years, she didn’t have a friend to vent and cry to about the nights traumatic events.

 

Nope. Instead here she was, a seventy year old vampire, all alone in a restroom with only herself for company.

 

Rolling her neck from side to side to loosen the building tension she stopped when she caught sight of herself in the mirror, getting lost deep within her tired eyes as a long repressed memory floated to the surface.

 

_Flashback-_

Caroline stomped angrily into the overly large mansion on the edge of downtown New Orleans, to quickly find Klaus in the front parlor.

 

“Taking harried college student to the extreme today, are we?” Klaus teased with a cheeky grin, waving his hand holding a tumbler of scotch in her direction. His eye filled with mirth, brushing past her face filled with anger, choosing instead to focus on her her disheveled appearance.

 

In place of the loose blue sundress and cream cardigan she had left their home in earlier that morning was now a brand new pair of gray athletic shorts paired with a new sweatshirt emblazoned with the Tulane logo across its chest. Her long flowing curls were now piled up at the back of her head in a tight knot that was peeking out from beneath a matching ball-cap.

 

“Are you done looking me over and making fun of me yet?” Caroline snapped.

 

“Oh good,” Klaus teased with a hint of annoyance as he polished off and refilled his drink, “we’ve reached the argument portion of the evening where you will now tell me, with quite a colorful vocabulary no doubt, how whatever predicament you found yourself in that lead to the drastic wardrobe change is all my doing.”

 

“That’s because nine times out of ten it is.” She growled as she snatched the glass from his hands, downing it in one go before shoving the empty glass back into his hand.

 

“True.” Smirking at the thoughts of the decidedly more intimate encounters that ruined her clothing, he set down tumbler, his eyes following the natural sway of her hips as she stomped away. “Though this time is wasn’t done as pleasurably as usual and I was sadly not there to enjoy it. Why don’t we fix that.”

 

Stalking toward her with his intentions clearly visible on his face, she threw her hands up stopping dead in his tracks at the hard tone of her voice.  

 

“No. There will be none of that _._ We do have things that need fixed but not in the way you’re implying.”

 

“Alright,” Klaus leaned against the back of the sofa, folding his arms across his chest with a nonchalant shrug, “Have at it then so that we can move past whatever has you so adorably angry.”

 

“You’re not going to flirt your way out of this one Klaus and there will be no just moving past this.” Her lip curled as her body vibrated in fury, “God! Can you not _smell_ the blood on me? Blood that isn’t mine by the way. The blood that I couldn’t get out of my hair in the campus bathroom sink. The blood I tried to wash off of my shoes but only ruined them in the process? The blood that soaked my clothes forcing me to compel every single person I came across when I had to go to the campus gift shop for this hideous outfit just so I could get home without having to keep compelling innocent people?!”

 

“Sounds as though you’ve had a trying day.” He admitted easily but then tilted his head with an arch of his brow, “I still fail to see how any of this is my fault.”

 

Caroline tossed her head back, stomping her foot with an enraged cry.

 

“It’s your fault because you can’t stop being a damn tyrant who just _has_ to throw his weight around and prove what a big bad hybrid he is to the supernatural of this city even though said city is in a pretty damn good state of peace right now!” When he still didn’t show signs of caving after her emotional rant her face turned hard and her voice fell flat, “The witches Klaus. I was attacked by two very disgruntled young witches who claimed they were coming after me to show you the lesson of killing their friend without a reason.”

 

Caroline nearly rejoiced as a flicker of concern and anger swept over his face but it was gone as swiftly as it came. Instead he did that irritating thing that never failed to make her eye twitch. He pressed his lips as if he was deep in thought, though they both knew he was only bidding his time and choosing his words, as he rubbed his thumb and index finger over his scruffy chin.

 

“I heard whispers of the youngest members of a local coven. Speaking such nonsense of how their elders were, how did they put it,” He paused as if he thought he was the most entertaining person in the world, snapping his fingers as he rolled his wrist while she stood there stewing, eye twitching even more with ever snap, “that’s right, epic morons for not standing up against me. They needed to be shown first hand that I am not a man to be trifled with.” His body stood taller, his face stern as if he dared her to deny what he said wasn’t exactly what needed to happen. Feeling completely confident that he had done what was needed, as he always had.

 

Caroline ran her fingers roughly through her hair, groaning as she began to pace in front of him, “I’ve asked you repeatedly to stop this. To stop all the killing and hunting people down for no reason! I’ve asked you to stop acting like some insane dictator who cuts down his perceived enemies over baseless rumors and words.”

 

She suddenly stopped moving altogether. Her eyes locked on his as if studying him, searching for something she seemed to have missed or forgotten about it. Through it all Klaus stood as still as she, his breath racing in short pants as he awaited her next move.

 

The cynical and derisive laugh that burst forth from her lips stunned him to the quick. “Maybe this is all my fault after all. Everyone told me you wouldn’t change but there I was thinking you could. Dummy me right?”

 

“I never told you I’d change. I only spoke of trying and was quite clear when I said that when it came to the safety of you and my family I would not budge on what I thought was the best course of action.” With every word from his lips, his anger rose higher.

 

He knew this game all to well, it was a favorite of Rebekah’s. The old bate and switch. She loved to employ it whenever he did not see things her way, start by blaming him then change to blaming herself in hopes he would cave at her self deprecation.

 

He was in no mood to play such games, instead he chose the route he often did. The one that no matter how many times it failed him, his impulsive nature would lead him to nowhere but misery, “So I take it that you came out of the ordeal unscathed, what of the witches? Where did you stash them only for me to have to clean up the mess when they inevitability come back in full force against you again? Much like I’ve had to before?” He finished with lips curling into a malicious smirk.

 

“There won’t be a next time Klaus. Don’t.” She cut him off with a scathing snarl as he opened his mouth to argue. Bitterness shadowed with regret coloring her voice, “Before you start ranting and raving about the last time, let me make it perfectly clear for you. They won’t be coming back because they _can’t_ come back. I had to do exactly what I told you I didn’t want to do the moment I agreed to come here and try with you. I didn’t want to get involved in your stupid power struggle and I didn’t want to be forced to kill because of it.”

 

“The witches are dead then?” He answered her stiff nod with a small jerk of his head. He knew exactly what killing the witches must have cost her, what it was doing to her, but a louder emotion rang through him. Fear. Fear she would blame him for this forever. Fear that morphed quickly into anger that she still hung onto the blasted notion of living and playing the part of a human, “Good. It’s high time you behaved like the vampire you are. Perhaps now the last of the stench from Mystic Falls will finally leave you.”

 

He knew it was harsh the second the words left his lips and the stunned and painful gasp left hers. But he too was hurt. Hurt by her words. Hurt by her blue eyes that normally gazed at him with love even through her exasperation that were now throwing icy daggers into his very chest. If this was how his siblings felt that first second of every forced sleep of the dagger he could almost feel a small flicker of remorse towards them.

 

“Is that how you really feel about me?” All the anger drained out of her, leaving her voice small and cracking as she wrapped an arm around her middle tightly, “That I’ll always be the little baby vampire who will never live up to her potential?”

 

Klaus forcefully shoved down the denials and praise his heart wished nothing more than to give to her, instead he lashed out with a pain all his own, “Is that how you really feel about me? That I will always be the monster and villain of the world’s stories? Including yours?”

 

Seeing past his anger to the pain that rippled across his face and caused his eyes to glisten a touch more than usual caused her own agony to flare up and begin eating its way through her body. The force of it all nearly knocking the breath right out of her as signs of a full-on anxiety attack began clawing and wreaking havoc in her tightening chest.

 

“I can’t keep doing this.” She hoarsely rasped, “We can’t keep doing this. Having this same fight over and over again. Isn’t that the very definition of insanity? Repeating the same thing, telling yourself that you’ll get different results all the while knowing that you won’t?”

 

“It’s only insanity if we let it be. Only if we continue down this well-worn and frankly tiresome path.” Klaus sighed heavily, his eyes darting back and forth as he searched for the magical mystical answer for their problems yet coming up short. All he could give her, give them, was the truth as he saw it, “I am who I am Caroline, that is never going to change. I will kill, I will maim. I will seek and destroy those who think to stand against me and mine before they have the chance to blink. You do not survive as long as I have, you do not keep others alive as long as I have, without ending wars before the begin.”

 

“Well then, I guess that leaves us with a problem.” Her voice sounded hollow, numb from how fast things were spinning out of control, “I am who I am Klaus. I’m never going to think like you, act like you or believe like you do. I’m never going to be the type of person- the type of vampire- who goes out and kills people just because they don’t like me and say nasty things. They can talk all they want. I don’t care. I will only take a life if I’m forced to do so. I will never be the type of person who goes out searching to take them.”

 

“You chose to be with me Caroline. You chose to come here knowing full well who and what I am.” His frustration with her sudden matter of fact demeanor and with how quickly this situation had spilled out of his control took over as he spat harshly, “I never asked you to change a thing about yourself and yet you have all but demanded I change the very core of who I’ve been for the better part of ten centuries. Perhaps it’s time for you to be alone and think over just what all that and your choices mean and just what says about you.”

 

“You’re right.” She replies numbly. “Maybe it is time.”

 

Klaus watched her walk away on stilted legs, heard her ruffling around in their bedroom as he stayed glued to his spot in confusion. Completely unsure of this new and frankly unnerving territory they seemed to be standing in.

 

All was made clear when she appeared at the parlor doorway, her suitcase sitting ominously at her side. Her lower lip trembling and her blue eyes now red and glossy.

 

“I think you’re right. Obviously this isn’t working and we both need time to think. I…I…”

 

Before she had the chance to speak aloud her intentions, he clamped down on his chaotic emotions that threatened to overtake him, shielding himself with his ever trusty yet falsely numb mask as he calmly said, “Leave Caroline. Just leave.”

 

_End of flashback_

Caroline shook herself out of the past, the last words he spoke to her fifty years ago still ringing in her ears. Clenching her eyes tightly shut, she took a few calming and measured breaths.

 

“Stop it Caroline. Just stop. Pull yourself together and just get the hell out of here.”

 

Squaring her shoulders she gave a resolute nod towards her reflection at her pep talk and left the ladies room fully intending to stick unseen to the edges of the party and disappear out of the building.

 

She didn’t make it far before Stella caught her.

 

“Wonderful! We need another on the dance floor. You know how I hate having an odd number of couples on the floor. It makes the whole thing look sloppy and completely unbalanced.”

 

“I know and I’m sorry…” Caroline scrambled to find an excuse, anything to get out of there when _she_ was the one who was feeling unbalanced and not because her friend was dragging her uncharacteristically towards the dance floor, “But I’m just going to take off maybe you can find…”

 

“Nonsense.” Stella waved her excuses off, “ I know you’d never leave when I need you and all I’m asking for is you to have one dance and besides, it’s already starting and we’re here.”

 

Caroline was thrust suddenly into a warm set of waiting arms. Her fingers clenched and griped into the fabric covering the firm shoulders she remembered all too well. Her eyes held shut as his scent overtook her as her body began to follow his guided movements as if by memory.

 

She refused to glance up, not wanting to see what his face would bring her. Instead she glanced off to her left finding Rebekah watching them with a smug grin as Elijah casted them a guilt yet hopeful gaze.

 

They way they watched them, the way Stella hadn’t even noticed the turmoil she was in and instead of dragging her off to a quiet corner to pull it out of her she all but thrusted her into Klaus’ arms. It all made sense. He damn siblings were still meddling and even worse, they were using Stella’s awe of them against her by compelling her to do these things.

 

Caroline quickly reminded herself to share her vervain with Stella later as she pulled away from Klaus, her eyes lifting to look into his before cowardly drifting to his forehead instead. “I’m sorry your siblings forced you here but I can’t do this.”

 

Her high heals beat a rapid tattoo across the floor as she swiftly made her way out of the room, into an empty hall.

 

What she didn’t expect at all was for Klaus to take a page out of his old playbook and chase after her. A small portion of her mind wanted to laugh, _at least it’s not a parking lot, no cars to almost hit him here._

 

“Caroline! Wait.”

 

She spun to face him with a scoff as she began walking backwards, “Why are you even here? Didn’t you once tell me that smaller cities like this were homes to people who were too mediocre and lacked the sophistication and grace of the greater metropolis areas?”

 

He shoved his hands in pockets and shrugged, fighting down the urge to smile at her as she paused her steps and placed her hand onto her cocked hip. His eyes zeroed in on the bright sparkle of diamonds and the way they stood out against the pale skin of her wrist and the scarlet shade of her dress, giving him the hopeful push to continue, “Perhaps this trip has opened my eyes and changed my mind on such tightly held views.”

 

“And here I thought _change_ wasn’t in your vocabulary.” Her smile was sugary-sweet, her lashes batted in an overly innocent flutter that was meant to push him away but Klaus found himself reveling in her sassy banter.

 

It was something over the past fifty years, after the sting of betrayal brought on by purely egotistical means had faded, that he found himself missing the most. Caroline, unafraid and unaffected by his anger. Caroline, never one to back down from calling him out or telling him how she really felt. Caroline, with words that could slice deeper than any knife. And yet, who’s words when chosen carefully, would fall from petal soft lips soothing his raggedly weary soul, bringing him a peace and comfort never before known.  

 

“You’ll find my vocabulary to be quite extensive. One might venture to say it’s a miraculous feat with the new challenges and changes that have come along with its evolvement.” His message was made clear to her with his words and flirty smile.

 

“Yeah one might,” She allowed before her eyes hardened as she continued before turning to walk away, “But I won’t.”

 

Klaus latched onto her arm, tugging her back to face him gently as she twisted and pulled in attempts to unlock his hold.

 

“Wait. Grant me a moment of your time, love.”

 

“No. We’re so not doing this now or ever. So, let. Me. Go.” Each word was emphasized with a sharp tug as she tried again to shake his firm yet gentle hold on her arm.

 

“No.” Klaus shouted, the echo in the empty hall causing them both to freeze. He took advantage as her struggles ceased and rushed to explain, “I might have been angry with my siblings and even tried to fight against them at first. But now that I’m here, now that the disquiet and restlessness I have felt these last few months, since the moment we parted if I’m thoroughly honest, have finally settled and calmed now that you’re next to me, I don’t plan to leave your side any time soon.”

 

“Well that’s too bad for you,” She jerked her head side to side, spitefully lashing out at him, “because I don’t have any plans on staying in the same place or even the same country as you.”

 

Klaus rolled his eyes with a fond grin at her childish behavior then pulled her in slightly closer as his passionately deep voice fell around her.

 

“I can see it in your eyes Caroline. I can feel it coming from all around you. Your ego and pride might be telling you to leave, but deeper within you, straight down to your very being, your very soul, is begging you to stay.”

 

She rolled her eyes, deflecting what he was claiming just a little too hard, “If you’re trying to claim we’re some sort of soulmates you’re clear more delusional than anyone ever thought.”

 

“Something like that.” Klaus replied smoothly, smirking at her slightly stunned appearance, taking full advantage of the seconds before she would fire off questions and barbs of disbelief and what he was mildly guessing was deflection. It was that possible deflection that had him wondering if her choice in words were purely coincidental or something more. Deciding to table that particular line of thought, he demanded instead, “Tell me what you’re truly angry about.”

 

His abrupt change of subject with his steadfast demand threw her off guard. Her voice low and shaky as she stumbled with her control of the hard, icy persona she had been playing, “What? I…I don’t know what you mean.”

 

“Yes you do.” His soft smile reached his eyes as he pressed, “Tell me what it is that has you holding so desperately to your anger with me so that you can attempt to ignore what every cell of your lovely mind and your glorious body is pleading with you to give in to.”

 

Klaus drew her in closer, their bodies only a scant breath away from each other yet still only touching where he held her gently by the arm. The warmth of each other began setting the kindling flame that would forever burn for the other ablaze from the teasing fans of the almost and the not quite.

 

“Tell me sweetheart. Please.”

 

Her chin quivered at his softly spoken plea before she finally broke, lashing out in uncontrolled frustration and pain. Snarling through the lump in her throat she shoved him in the chest sending him reeling to the opposite wall. Her feet holding her firm where she stood across the hall from him. Her fists clenched at her sides as she shook and trembled in her pain-filled rage.

 

“You just let me go! You let me leave and never came after me. At first I thought it was your ego keeping you from coming after me just like mine kept me from coming back. But after a while, after the days turned to weeks, then months with still not sign of you. After the first few years passed I figured out the truth.”

 

“What truth?” Klaus tilted his head puzzled, if she was misinformed about their unique connection he would be more than happy to clear the air and help her understand, but something told him that wasn’t it. From the way her livid eyes all but crackled and spiteful tone her words carried, he had a feeling she clearly had the wrong idea about something and that it had costed them both greatly.

 

“You don’t just _let_ people leave Klaus. Not people you actually…you stick your siblings in coffins for god sakes! Instead of letting them live their own lives and risk some crazy idea that they’ll betray you…”

 

“Not so crazy when they have before.” Klaus interjected before snapping his mouth shut at the look she threw him.

 

“The point is, you lock up the people you care about and keep them close.”

 

Unfettered horror washes over his face as he caught on to just what it was she had so wrongly assumed. His body flushed with sharp burning needles and jagged icy shards of glass creating an agonizing rush he never wished to feel again.

 

“You believe that I allowed you to leave, that I didn’t follow you because I don’t love you?” He asked completely dumbfounded. Her lack of response broke through the agonizing numbness, leaving nothing but a burning fire in his veins to set things right.

 

“If I hadn’t cared, if I hadn’t loved you I never would have allowed you to leave. You would have been dead before you made it to the blasted door!”

 

Caroline jumped with a gasp at his enraged snarl, taking a step back as he stalked to her, looking more alive, _more Klaus_ - _like,_ than he had since she saw him all those years ago.

 

This was what they excelled at after all, proving to the other, proving to themselves, who they really were deep down inside. Knocking them both over with the force of their uncensored truths.

 

“You think I _wanted_ you gone? Do you honestly believe that I didn’t want to beg you to stay? To _force_ you to stay? It was for exactly those reasons I didn’t stop you! You weren’t wrong sweetheart,” At the tremble of her lips as her eyes began to gloss over he calmed, stopping inches away from her as her back gentle hit the wall. Lifting his hand to cup her cheek, he spoke as soft as he was able, “Well, there is something you are wrong about, desperately wrong. I held back and let you leave _because_ I love you. But what you weren’t wrong about was how we were only breaking each other. How we couldn’t keep going on the way we were. But I think that enough time has passed now. I believe that we’ve both gone through enough trail and errors as we worked to reinvent ourself while apart.”

 

“How do you know what I’ve gone through or done, what are you having someone stalk me?” Her old reflexes when it came to teasing him easily flowed from her without a thought.

 

“I won’t lie and say I haven’t thought about it a time or twenty,” He smirked playfully before laughing breathily, “But no, I haven’t had you stalked.”

 

“Great.” Caroline rolled her eyes, muttering under her breath, “So you’ve been able to use our connection too.”

 

Klaus’ eyes widened, a pleased smile growing over his lips, “So that little moment of shock was a deflection after all. You know don’t you?”

 

“Maybe.” Caroline nibbled on her lower lip before caving, “Okay fine. I _might_ have felt things or just _known_ things that there were no way for me to know. And that _may_ have led me to doing a little digging.”

 

“Seeing as you are not screaming and hurling accusations at me, am I to take it that you understand that it is involuntary, a pure design of fate? Something neither of us can control?” Klaus waited with bated breath for her reply and wasn’t disappointed with what she had found.

 

“Yes.” Caroline sighed deeply, “I won’t lie and say I didn’t think all that in the beginning but I know what it all means and doesn’t mean. I know that we can’t control each other’s thoughts or actions or anything freaky like that. I know it’s nothing like how the movies or books try to portray soulmates, or the concept of them anyways. Twin flames are something completely different, on a completely different level of connection. I also know it doesn’t mean we don’t have a choice when it comes to each other, that we aren’t forced to be together unless we want to be.”

 

“And do you want to be?” Klaus had never felt more vulnerable with her than he did right at this moment. He wanted her in every way imaginable, more than he wanted to take his next breath. But this wasn’t about only him, it never had been. It has always been about them both and finally learning to take the other’s wants into account.

 

Taking a chance, he pressed himself lightly and fully against her body for the first time since seeing her again. Watched up close as her eyes fluttered shut, a low groan rumbling within his throat as her body arched slowly against him as if testing the waters and relearning the feel of their bodies pressed together.   

 

Klaus let his hand trail softly down her side, stopping when it reached her hip to lay heavily upon it. Giving her the reminder of the power and pleasure his hands could bring her, the power they used to revel in together so long ago.

 

His heart began to race beneath the first gentle touch of her palm to his chest. The air around them swiftly changing and warming. He leaned his free arm against the wall beside her head, feeling the sting of her nails in his shoulder as he breathed in her scent and whispered lowly in her ear.

 

“Tell me to stop and I will. Tell me to leave and I shall. Tell me you’re not ready for us to try again, to get this right and I will not deny you.” He groaned hoarsely, his body shivering as her hips pressed and rolled against his throbbing shaft. His fingers flexed their grip on her hips involuntarily before he regained his waning control, “But Caroline?”

 

She hummed in question, delighting in the passion and heat that was held on edge between them. The feel of his back through his clothes beneath her palms. The scrape of his stubble along her neck. The teasing rasp of her nipples buried under too many layers against his chest. The not yet close enough brush of his heated shaft with every slow sway and roll of their hips.

 

“You need to tell me now love. I can’t…I want so many things when it comes to you but I need to know where we stand.” He skimmed the side of his face along hers until his nose brushed against her and they were looking deeply into each other’s eyes.

 

The equal looks of lust, of love, of just how much they had missed the other caused their bodies to tighten and freeze.

 

It was only then, when all the friction had ceased, that they realized just how close together their bodies were. How their passion was not the only thing teetering on the edge. That this was the life altering swift they had both felt coming for them.

 

Whether it happened now or later, they both knew they were inevitable.

 

Just how much more restless distance they would need to endure was as of yet undecided.

 

Caroline slid her hand up and around his neck, her fingertips twirling the ends of his hair, “And if _this_ , right here, right now, is all I’m ready for? Just a single night of passion and sex?”

 

Klaus licked his lips, his grip tightening on her dress to the point they could hear a few threads begin to give. “Walking away and denying you would kill me just as much as it would to walk away after having the taste and feel of you all around me once again. So if I’m to die, let me die a happy man.”

 

Caroline grinned with a husky giggle, “You can’t die, hybrid remember?”

 

“I’m having difficulty remembering anything more than the feel of your body against mine at the moment.”

 

“Then let me remind you,” She uttered breathlessly as she moved in closer, placing random kisses and nips to his neck, “you can’t die and I have no plans of letting you leave any time soon.”

 

“What are you saying?” Klaus groaned, clutching her closer.

 

“I’m saying,” She pulled back, grinning widely as her eyes danced with lust, “we need to move out of this hallway where anyone can see us and then, after what I’m sure will be a _very_ long night, we’ll talk about where we want to go from here. Together.”

 

His answering grin was as thrilling as it was promising of what the night would have in store for them.

 

_Later That Evening-_

 

The party had begun winding down just over an hour ago. Rebekah had long ago released Stella from her compulsion at Elijah’s request, and possibly because of he tiny twinge or guilt she felt for setting up her friend and her favorite brother.

 

A friend and brother who were still no where to be found.

 

“Have you been able to reach him yet?”

 

Elijah pocketed his phone with a shake of his head as he stopped and stood beside her, “No. His calls have been going straight to voicemail for nearly two hours now. What of your luck with Caroline?”

 

Rebekah shook her head, “Nothing. Still going directly to voicemail. I’m beginning to think she never turned her phone back on after getting off the plane this morning.”

 

A cheery whistle echoed around them as Kohl’s meandering form greeted them from the hallway.

 

“Kol.” Rebekah groaned in exasperation, “We don’t have time for your devil may care attitude. Nik could be tearing his way through an entire city for all we know after the stunt we pulled on him tonight. We need to find them. At least one of them!”

 

“Though I may have said it a different way, Rebekah is correct. We don’t have the luxury of time if Niklaus is out there angry and raging.”

 

Kol stifled his grin at his siblings concerns. While he didn’t know exactly where the no doubt blissful couple was at the present moment, he did have the fortune of knowing that they could all relax for the remainder of the evening, and possibly a good portion of the following day, before hey would have to deal with whatever fallout from their duped brother.

 

“Well, I didn’t find a single sight of them but I did find a clue as to what could have happened.” Kol replied, barely holding back his mirth as he held out his hands and dropped an item into each of his siblings grasps.

 

“What’s this Kol?” Rebekah sighed with exasperation as she eyed the scrap of red fabric in her palm. “We don’t have time for your riddles and games.”

 

“If my detective skills are correct, that would be a scrap of Caroline’s dress and those,” A chuckle escaped his lips as he pointed to the black scrap Elijah held, “are a piece of our missing brother’s pants as indicated by the partially intact zipper still hanging off the fabric.”

 

Kol doubled over, laughing hysterically as they both dropped the scraps of fabric with disgust clearly written across their faces.  

 

“You disgusting little wanker! I’ll have you head for that!”

 

Elijah continued wiping his hand off with his handkerchief as Kol flashed out of the building with his laughing and Rebekah’s enraged snarls echoing behind him.

 

His eyes glanced down to the scraps of fabric now laying beside each other on the floor, his lips cracking a small grin at the happenings of the evening.

 

The waitstaff entering the room to being the cleaning process drew him out of his thoughts and cleared the show of emotion off his face.

 

As he made his way out to follow after his quarreling siblings, he couldn’t help but wonder at the out comes of the evening. The possibility of dealing with Niklaus’ anger tomorrow could prove to be a daunting task, but one that would no doubt have a mild beginning with a happy ending with Caroline by his side once more. Now the task when dealing with his other siblings would test his limits on breaking both their necks himself.

 

Proven to him further when he followed them outside and saw the state of his car. Rebekah’s heel was shoved straight through the hood which was conspicuously beside a rather large Kol sized dent. The two siblings in question now stood like petulant, remorseful children off to the side.

 

Elijah raised his hand to stop whatever tales they would spin, “And you all wonder why I often disappear for months on end. Between the two of you and our other brother I often wonder how I have no became the first vampire to have his hair begin to gray.”

 

Elijah opted to leave the car and walk the rest of the way back to the hotel to allow his irritation to simmer before facing his unruly siblings again. It was moments like these over the past fifty years that he missed his friend  She was not only a calming presence for their family but she also gave him someone to relax and share his exasperation with over his family.

 

If Niklaus messes this reunion up Elijah was of the mind to finally discover a way to put _him_ in a box. Fifty years was far too long in his opinion to have to weather his family and their antics alone.

 

 


End file.
